


Out with the Old

by AssortedGeekery



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Lingerie, M/M, Multi, New Years, Sickfic, Traditions, h/c, weird traditions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-18 11:47:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21943498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AssortedGeekery/pseuds/AssortedGeekery
Summary: It's near the end of the year in Midgar, and Angeal has the flu. What are his darlings to do but whisk him away for some wholesome holiday shenanigans in the hope of making him feel a little better?
Relationships: Zack Fair/Angeal Hewley/Genesis Rhapsodos/Sephiroth/Cloud Strife
Comments: 7
Kudos: 67
Collections: FF7 Secret Santa 2019





	Out with the Old

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chofi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chofi/gifts).



> Writen for chofi's prompt asking for holiday traditions for one of a number of pairings. I couldn't resist the whole dang pileup. 
> 
> New Year's Traditions are both made up and lifted from a variety of places, some of them modified and some of them left as is. Enjoy!

Winter in Midgar was, putting it mildly, a miserable time of year. And that was keeping in mind the fact that Midgar wasn’t a wonderful place at any point. Angeal had gone home to Banora for MidWinter, spending LongNight stoking bonfires with people he’d known since childhood. The weather was perfect for the Festival of Lights, cold and clear, the dark vault of the sky filled with glittering stars. 

He went home with a box of cookies, courtesy of his mother, and the seeds of a nasty flu, courtesy of one or more of the local children.

By the end of the week, he had begun to feel that something was a little bit  _ off _ ….and the following morning, he slept through his alarm and woke midmorning feeling rather as though he had been trampled by a stampeding herd of chocobo. A plague was upon him.

Normally, Angeal would spend the days surrounding the New Year cleaning his quarters, chasing out the old and welcoming in the new, and planting basil seeds to bring prosperity in the coming days. Instead, he spent that day balled up in blankets in bed, coughing and miserable and occasionally surfacing to stumble into the en suite and heave up everything he hadn’t eaten.

Most of the nausea had faded the following day, and Angeal crawled out of bed and managed to sow his precious basil seeds, lovingly tucking them into the best soil he could lay hands on, then carefully settling them beneath a gently warming sun lamp on his kitchen counter. Then, quite exhausted by the effort, he lay down on the couch and fell asleep for the rest of the morning, rousing to find Genesis clattering around in his kitchen. 

“Nnh?”

“Oh  _ there _ you are,” Genesis hummed, peering around the doorway into the living room. “I must say, darling, you look a  _ fright _ .”

“Shouldn’t be here,” Angeal warned. “‘m probably contagious.”

“Oh, pish. I wouldn’t worry about that.”

While Angeal wondered if he ought to be insulted at being pished at, Zack came thumping out of the bedroom with a duffle bag in hand and Angeal’s rucksack over his shoulder. 

“Alright, I’ve got everything! Are you ready, Gen?”

“I am, but I don’t think our bear is.”

Angeal stared at Zack. The younger man had a garland of what looked like holly around his head, but it couldn’t possibly  _ be _ holly because…ow. Spines.

Zack grinned at him. “Go get your boots and a jacket. We’ve got places to be!”

“…. _ be _ ? Zack, I can't ...Genesis. I’m  _ sick _ .”

“We know,” Genesis hummed. “But that doesn’t mean we aren’t ringing in the New Year with you. Chop chop. Boots, jacket, keys. Now.”

Angeal hesitated, then got up and shuffled off to do as he was told. Thus dressed, he was herded into the elevator. 

“…where  _ are _ we going, exactly?”

“Sephiroth and I went halfsies on a nice plate out on the edge of the Plate for a few days.”

“You  _ rented a house _ ?”

“No, darling, I rented half a house. Sephiroth rented the other half.”

Angeal sputtered at him as the pair bundled him into a car, where he was plied with a thermos of tea before Genesis pulled out into traffic and headed across the Plate.

The house they pulled up in front of was well appointed, more than large enough for a handful of SOLDIERs, and Angeal didn’t want to know how much it had cost to rent. He was hustled through the door before he could ask many questions, and right into Sephiroth’s arms. 

“No! I’m-  _ mmph _ !”

Sephiroth pulled him in and kissed him softly. “And I do not care. Welcome home.”

Angeal coughed and pulled away, looking embarrassed. “ _ Sephiroth _ , I’ll get you sick…”

“I’m sure I’ll live. Come on, let’s not stand in the entry. Zack, you’ve got his things?”

“On it!” Zack called from outside. 

Sephiroth waited patiently while Angeal fumbled his boots off, rubbed the older man’s back when he had to stop and cough himself breathless, then gently shooed him into the living room. Which contained….

“…..did you two rent this house because of  _ that _ ?” Angeal asked. In the middle of the living room was what appeared to be a sunken pool of cushions and blankets. A  _ nest _ , like Genesis sometimes threatened to build and Sephiroth often did, heaping softgoods together into a mess of warmth.

“It was a deciding factor, yes,” Sephiroth chuckled. “Go and try it out. We already did.”

“Is he here?” Cloud popped out of another doorway and eyed Angeal. “Gods all  _ bless _ , bear, you look awful.”

“ _ Thanks _ ,” Angeal sighed. He headed for the nest, and Cloud met him there, fussing over him as he sank onto a cushion. 

“ _ Yup _ , that’s a fever. have you had any medicine? Of course you haven’t, you never do ...you're an idiot like that but we love you anyway. Sit tight. I’ll get you something. Have you had anything to eat?”

“….not in awhile?” he managed, as Cloud brushed his hair back. “I had breakfast. Did some things. Napped. Then  _ they _ happened.”

“Right. I’m going to get you something to eat and some meds, and then you should nap. We don’t have anything going on until tomorrow anyway.”

“…..is there a  _ schedule _ for New Year’s Eve?”

“Nothing set in stone, darling,” Genesis chuckled. “But we have some things to do. Just here at the house, you understand.”

“Cuddle pile!” Zack cheered, and leapt to tackle Angeal properly into the cushions. Angeal went over with a yelp, then a hacking cough that had Zack struggling to sit him upright. “…oops?”

Cloud made a clucking sound and waded into the pile, rubbing Angeal’s back as Zack fretted. “Poor ol’ bear. Cuddle down, I’ll be right back.”

Sure enough, Cloud returned shortly with a travel mug of tea and a pasty, and a pocket full of rattling medicine bottles. Angeal was summarily fed and medicated up to his eyeballs, and fell asleep to the sound of Sephiroth and Genesis making out on a nearby couch.

He was woken long enough for more food, more tea and even more medication, shooed into a colossal bed, and fell asleep surrounded by warm, familiar bodies. To heck with being contagious, it was so much easier to sleep nested into the middle of a heap of Mako-heated SOLDIER bodied, combat-sharpened paranoia soothed into silence by the knowledge that he was cuddled into a pile of deadly individuals who would take care of any threat before he had to worry about it. It was  _ safe _ to be exhausted and ill, there in their arms. So he was. 

———

Come morning, Angeal slept late, stirring only faintly as his partners slowly exited the bed one at a time, leaving him nestled down in the middle of a welter of blankets, rousing only when music switched on in another room. 

Bleary, fluey and decidedly discombobulated, he shuffled off in search of the music, finding three of his lovers clustered together against the kitchen counter while Zack…..waved ...lingerie at them?

“An _ geal _ !” Zack cried, turning his attentions and fistful of undergarments on his former mentor. “Tell them to put the undies on! It’s  _ tradition _ !”

“….. _ what _ ?”

“Crazy man here said something about tradition and started waving panties all over,” Cloud said, sliding behind Sephiroth to pour Angeal a mug of coffee. “How are you feeling?”

“Still sick,” he sighed. “Zack, would you explain first?”

Zack paused, collecting himself, then brandished the underwear again. “Back home, you wear red undies into the New Year, for good luck. So I got everyone a pair, and we gotta wear ‘em today, when we’re not naked!”

Sephiroth sighed loudly. “You know, if you’d actually explained, I might not have  _ fled _ . Did you pick them out especially for us? These aren’t just…..bought in bulk?”

“Would I ever put mass produced undies on  _ you _ ?”

“You’ve tried to put mass produced t-shirts on us,” Genesis said dryly. “Sephiroth’s said  _ Slaughtermelon _ on the chest. Angeal’s said  _ Mangerine _ .”

“Those were awesome!”

“The names were funny, but the t-shirts were itchy,” Cloud pointed out. “I still  _ have _ mine.” His had been an extremely unflattering pale green, but it had ‘cutecumber’ printed on it and he’d thought it was adorable. Zack, of course, wore his ‘broconut’ shirt whenever he had a chance. “Here, let me see mine.”

Zack sorted through his fistful of fabric and handed over a pair. 

Cloud inspected them. “…..so do we all  _ match _ , or ...?”

“Oh no, definitely not, I know better!”

“ _ Joy _ ,” Sephiroth drawled. “Let’s see them all, then.”

Zack handed out underwear eagerly. Angeal put his coffee down to get a better look, holding the screamingly  _ red _ boxer briefs out at arm’s length. The looked ...fine, actually. And he liked boxer briefs because they played nicely with his uniform pants.

Across from him, Sephiroth was eyeing his rather silky-looking bikini briefs. Angeal was fairly sure he was seeing something sparkly at the waistband, but decided not to comment. 

Genesis, however,  _ did _ comment on his own scarlet cheeky shorts. “Red  _ lace _ , darling? And I’m supposed to wear them all day?”

“It’s not like we’re going t’ work or anything, Gen. They’ll look so nice on you! You look  _ great _ in lace.”

“I  _ do _ look good in lace,” Genesis allowed. “Fine. I’ll wear them for you, but-“ He stopped, then rolled his eyes as Zack dropped his pants on the spot and set to wriggle into his own glaringly red pair of panties. They appeared to be the unfortunate offspring between a bikini cut and a thong, although that may have just been the effect Zack’s backside had on most high-cut underwear.

Sephiroth slapped a hand over Cloud’s face. “There are  _ innocent eyes here _ , Zackary.”

“Whose, yours?” Cloud asked, pulling Sephiroth’s hands down. “No naked dicks in the kitchen unless you want me making stir-fry with that sausage.”

Zack fled, trailing jeans and discarded boxers. 

“Breakfast, bear?” Cloud murmured, ignoring Sephiroth’s sniggering and the sound, somewhere beyond the kitchen doorway, of Zack tripping over his own underwear and falling into something. 

“What’d you make?” Angeal asked, padding over. Cloud hooked him around the waist and tugged him closer, turning his face up and pouting until Angeal gave in and kissed him softly. “You know I’m going to get you sick.”

“I’ll take the risk,” Cloud assured him. “There are waffles and bacon and fruit salad. How’s your appetite?”

“Not as bad as it was two days ago. Thank you.”

“Uh-huh. You enjoy, I’m going to go put the magical new year panties on before Zack comes back and  _ helps _ .”

Angeal’s laughter turned into more coughing, but he didn’t really care, right then.

The rest of the morning consisted of a brief fashion show of festive underwear, which Angeal, as the only one sick, got to judge and comment upon while the others did some creative posing for his enjoyment. Then Cloud sat on him and made him take still more medication, and he promptly conked out while Cloud scuttled off somewhere mysterious, saying something about ‘preparations’ and Sephiroth ducked into the kitchen saying something similar.

By the time Angeal woke up, Cloud was cuddled against his side, kissing his face and hair. 

“Mrph?”

“Come on, you. Sauna time.”

“….. _ what _ ?”

“You heard me. Upup, we have places to be.”

Angeal groaned loudly. “Where are we  _ going _ ?”

“Downstairs.”

“Aren’t we  _ on _ the downstairs?”

“There’s a lower level. Come on.”

Angeal heaved himself up and let Cloud lead him away to the promised downstairs, at which point he learned that the house was actually built into the upper layer of the Plate itself, and had a semi-buried basement level that looked out into the empty space beyond the edge. And in that basement, there was a very well-appointed sauna, already filling with steam. 

Honestly, a steam bath sounded heavenly to Angeal right about then, and he was more than happy to strip down, hang his things on a rack, and step into the hot, humid dimness of the room. 

Maybe there was some rather enthusiastic making out while they were in there. Maybe not. But eventually, Cloud shooed Angeal out and refused him a towel. 

“Just stand there.” Cloud himself headed for a bucket beside the towel stack, filled with leafy branches. He selected several and advanced on Angeal with them held at the ready. “Alright. Turn.”

“……wait, what?”

_ Thwock _ .

Angeal yelped. 

“….oops, one of these is too thick, hang on.”

As Cloud pulled a branch from his bunch, Angeal rubbed at his stinging thigh. “Cloud, with all the love I can muster,  _ what the hell?” _

“It’s traditional,” Cloud explained, turning back to him with the adjusted bunch. “Don’t tense up.”

_ Thwack _ .

“Cloud, you are  _ beating me _ with tree branches, why wouldn’t I tense up?”

“I’m being gentle,” Cloud defended. “It’s good for circulation.”

“My circulation is  _ fine _ .”

_ Thwackthwackthwack. _

“You take a steam bath and cleanse yourself, then beat the old year away with birch branches so you go into the new year fresh and ready for new beginnings,” Cloud explained, briskly smacking Angeal head to toe with the bundle. “Alright, you’re done. Go dry off and get dressed. I’ll get Zack.”

Angeal was more than happy to dry off, put his clothes back on and briefly enjoy the sight of Cloud pursuing Zack around the room with a fresh bundle of birch branches before he retreated upstairs to the living room nest. He was drowsing again before the others returned, but he sleepily counted heads as they settled in around him, and one was  _ missing _ . 

“Seph’s in the kitchen,” Zack yawned. “Workin’ on his special thing.”

“What special thing?”

“‘unno. His thing.”

“His tradition, darling,” Genesis corrected. “Whatever it is. I haven’t a clue.”

“Hhmmmmkay….”

He didn’t sleep ...or at least, he thought he didn’t, but suddenly Sephiroth was there, petting his hair and the sky outside the windows was dark. “Come to dinner, love.”

“ _ Huh _ ? Already?”

“Already. Come on. Made something special for you.”

Angeal blinked at that. Sephiroth usually did exactly whatever he felt like when he wanted to cook, and he rarely modified his culinary plans to suit anyone else. “For  _ me _ ?”

“Yes, for you. Upup, let’s go eat.”

Someone had set up the formal dining area with candles and fancy glasses, and Genesis went around pouring fizzy cider for them all- no alcohol in deference to Angeal not being allowed any with his medicine. Angeal was shooed into a chair and smooched into submission by Zack while Cloud and Sephiroth carried in massive china bowls. Angeal could smell something deeply savory and made a little wondering sound as one of the bowls was placed before him. 

It was ramen. Or he thought it was ramen, but something looked strange about the noodles. He stared into the bowl, gently poking the egg aside to try and get a better look, until Sephiroth started laughing. 

“Usually you stir fry long-life noodles,” he explained. “But I thought a soup might be easier on your throat, so I talked Tseng into helping me make a proper tonkatsu broth. We made it at the Tower and split it, and I finished everything else up here. Try not to break the noodles when you eat them, it’s bad luck.”

_ That _ was what looked so strange, instead of being coiled together, Angeal was seeing individually bundled noodles piled upon each other. It was going to be a challenge to eat without breaking a noodle, but ...honestly, it sounded kind of fun.

“What  _ are _ long-life noodles?” Zack asked, scooping up his own chopsticks. “I mean, what’re they for?”

“Long life,  _ obviously _ ,” Sephiroth drawled. “You eat them at New Years, or at your birthday, or both, depending on what part of Wutai you’re from. Cooking and eating them without breaking them is supposed to bring good luck and good health in the coming year.”

Zack nodded, carefully maneuvering egg into his chopsticks. “Gotcha. I’ll do my best!”

Dinner ended up being a giggly affair, with much slurping and dribbling and choked snickers as someone had a slurped noodle flip up and smack them in the face, which happened more often than anyone cared to admit later. Finally, when all the bowls were empty, Angeal was force-fed medicine again and most of them retreated to the nest while Zack washed dishes. Angeal drowsed in the middle of them, surprised to see how late it really was- dinner hadn’t started until after eight. 

After Zack rejoined them, Genesis put on a movie and handed out small, intensely flavorful cups of drinking chocolate capped with mounds of cream and chocolate shavings. They cuddled together, kissing and making half-hearted attempts at making out, until Genesis’ phone buzzed and he hopped out of the pile, disengaging from Cloud with an audible sucking sound. Cloud whined at the loss. 

“Be back in a minute, darling,” he tossed over his shoulder, and scuttled away into the kitchen. 

Angeal sat up a bit, wondering what the redhead was up to.

Genesis returned a few minutes later, carrying, of all things, a large, old-fashioned mantle clock. He put it on the coffee table and hurried away again, coming back quickly with a small tray. From it he took delicate crystal bowls and handed them around.

Angeal looked into his bowl and had to smile. Inside lay twelve plump, perfect grapes in a positive rainbow of shades. Genesis’ family had had the money to import excellent fresh grapes at midwinter, and while Angeal had participated in this particular tradition once or twice in his childhood, it had never been one of the ones common to his household. He’d thought Genesis had left all those things behind when they’d left Banora, but….apparently not. 

“ _ Grapes _ ?” Sephiroth asked. 

“Grapes,” Genesis confirmed. “Eat one at each chime of the clock.”

Zack inspected his portion. “What’re they for? Why twelve?”

“Good fortune in the coming year. One for each month,” Genesis explained. The mantle clock ticked closer to midnight. “And do try not to choke.”

The clock began to chime, and the five men in the heap of cushions dutifully ate grapes. Angeal leaned into Sephiroth’s side and savored the sweet snap of grape skin and the flood of juice, each grape tasting different from the last but all of them icy cold and perfect. As the last chime rang out and he finished the grapes, Zack pounced on him for the first kiss of the new year. 

He would fall asleep there- again- in the mounds of pillows, while Sephiroth and Genesis made out, Zack went hunting for a snack and Cloud actually finished watching the movie. In the morning there would be New Year’s pancakes made with Zack’s recipe, strong coffee, still more medicine and a drive back to the Tower. But right then, all Angeal cared about was the sweetness of grapes on his tongue and the satisfaction of knowing they had properly welcomed in the new year. 


End file.
